THERE has been more than 40 penalties awarded for stripping in the opening five rounds of the NRL and according to Greg Alexander the referees have got more than half of them wrong.

A light was shone on the issue in Sunday’s controversial finish to the Storm-Titans game, with Craig Bellamy calling the decision to penalise Ryan Hinchcliffe for stripping the ball from Titans prop Luke Douglas “disgraceful”.

A replay of that incident has been rolled time and again since with commentators just about unanimous in their view that Douglas lost the ball cold and shouldn’t have been awarded a penalty.

Working with Fox Sports Stats, Alexander this week watched video of every incident this season where a penalty was awarded for a strip, and says the referees have got it wrong “at least 50 per cent” of the time.

He believes referees are guessing rather than waiting to see conclusive evidence of a strip before blowing their whistle.

“There’s no doubt that of the more than 40 stripping penalties so far this year, less than half of them were obvious infringements,” Alexander says.

“Less than half were penalties blown for players deliberately playing at the ball.

“It’s one that has sort of gone under the radar but it reared its head in the Titans-Melbourne game because it decided the match on a bad call. And it happens weekly.”

The video at the top of the page shows a variety of incidents this season where the ball was either clearly stripped and no penalty was called or loose carries were penalised.

Of those five incidents, just one was called correctly according to Alexander - a blatant James Gavet strip against the Dragons in round one.

Alexander acknowledges that if the referees put the onus back on the ball carrier to hold onto the ball, genuine strips would more often go unpenalised.

But he believes this is a more acceptable standard than the current malaise that sees referees erring on the side of awarding a penalty when the ball comes loose.

“If the ball comes free and neither referee knows how it came free, I’d pack a scrum. You can’t be blowing penalties,” Alexander says.

“If the ball comes out, you just can’t automatically penalise a team.

“At the moment the ball carrier knows that if he loses the ball he can motion towards the referee that it was stripped and know there’s a chance a penalty will be awarded.

“The onus has got to be on the ball carrier. If the referee doesn’t know what’s going on they either play on or they put a scrum down. They can’t just be guessing.”

Alexander believes the referees should be coached to look for obvious cues that a strip has taken place and if those cues aren’t evident a penalty should not be awarded.

He says that even in a three-man tackle, there are several signs the referee should be looking for to ensure that the right decision is made.

“In defence of the referees it can sometimes be very difficult to see what goes on,” Alexander concedes.

“There’s three in the tackle, someone on the ball, the ball comes free, hands are in and around the ball, which happens in every tackle.

“The idea for the defenders is to wrap up the ball so the ball carrier can’t offload. If a player puts his hands on the ball and doesn’t touch any part of the body - whether or not there’s a ripping motion - and the ball comes loose with all the movement in the tackle, then fine, award the penalty.

“While he might not be making an attempt to strip the ball, the fact that he’s got both hands on the ball makes him accountable for what happens from there.

“There’s got to be clear evidence. There’s incidental contact with the ball in almost every tackle and Ryan Hinchcliffe was a perfect example.

“If you have a look at Ryan Hinchcliffe in that tackle, both arms are on the shoulder as he comes over the top to tackle Luke Douglas. As he slips down he flicks the ball on the way through but by that stage the ball was already coming out.

“He didn’t have eyes for it, he was simply making a tackle.

“Unless the referee sees a player attack the ball with both hands, ripping at the ball, or punching at the ball to dislodge it, they shouldn’t award a penalty.”

The effect of bad rullings can be lessened by introducing short-arm penalties for everything except foul play. You just get a set of six more tackles.
This would have to include an allowance for the refs to send players to the bin for five minutes for giving away too many penalties.

What we all suspected. Referees are ruling a penalty without actually seeing the ball get stripped...except in the grand final when Pearce does it Foran and later Buhrer gets penalised for a Roosters dropped ball.

g'day all,I've never been a fan of the stripping rule and think the game would benefit from its abolition.Its absurd that blokes can carry the ball in one hand and be rewarded for losing it because two blokes tackle him.It would also negate the need for the wrestle if the ball carrier has to protect the ball and its easier for a defender to lock up the ball rather than wrestle the man and a ref can call held quicker.Use to work in the old days first man low second over the top to lock up the ball if needed.Once held is called hands on the ball can still be penalised if necessary.
cheers mike

g'day all,I've never been a fan of the stripping rule and think the game would benefit from its abolition.Its absurd that blokes can carry the ball in one hand and be rewarded for losing it because two blokes tackle him.It would also negate the need for the wrestle if the ball carrier has to protect the ball and its easier for a defender to lock up the ball rather than wrestle the man and a ref can call held quicker.Use to work in the old days first man low second over the top to lock up the ball if needed.Once held is called hands on the ball can still be penalised if necessary.
cheers mike

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If stripping was legalised again you would have three blokes in a tackle, the first two would grab the blokes arms and immobilise him and the third would strip the ball. It would be an utter disaster for the game and would shift the power utterly to the defence because players would have to enter the collision grasping the ball with both hands as though their life depended on it.

What we all suspected. Referees are ruling a penalty without actually seeing the ball get stripped...except in the grand final when Pearce does it Foran and later Buhrer gets penalised for a Roosters dropped ball.

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That was the correct call. Buhrer was clearly guilty of the offence "Being a Manly player in the vicinity of an opponent who loses control of the ball (rule 14(f)(iv))". He's lucky he didn't get the bin.

g'day all,I've never been a fan of the stripping rule and think the game would benefit from its abolition.Its absurd that blokes can carry the ball in one hand and be rewarded for losing it because two blokes tackle him.It would also negate the need for the wrestle if the ball carrier has to protect the ball and its easier for a defender to lock up the ball rather than wrestle the man and a ref can call held quicker.Use to work in the old days first man low second over the top to lock up the ball if needed.Once held is called hands on the ball can still be penalised if necessary.
cheers mike

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If stripping was legalised again you would have three blokes in a tackle, the first two would grab the blokes arms and immobilise him and the third would strip the ball. It would be an utter disaster for the game and would shift the power utterly to the defence because players would have to enter the collision grasping the ball with both hands as though their life depended on it.

No No No No No

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g'day all,Whether that would be the case Ralphie I don't know we can agree to disagree but I know when I was playing you did have to hold on to the ball like your life depended on it because you knew someone could take it off you but a skilful player could still get a pass away.You also had to protect the ball in the play the ball because you could lose it there too.Watching some of the ridiculous penalties blokes get for losing the ball because they have no need to carry the ball securely really irks me.
cheers mike